Gagosian is set to unveil the first-ever Asia exhibition by acclaimed American painter Cy Gavin, opening on May 22, 2025, at the gallery’s Hong Kong location in the Pedder Building.
Cy Gavin, 2024. Photo: Tyler Mitchell. Courtesy the artist and Gagosian
Cy Gavin, born in 1985, is celebrated for his deeply personal interpretations of landscape and nature, often layering environmental observation with cultural memory and metaphysical reflection.
His works have been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally.
This debut showcase will feature a striking new body of work that explores themes of transformation, growth, and natural phenomena through Gavin’s signature dynamic style.
Working primarily on unprimed wooden panels, Gavin’s latest paintings fuse vivid mark-making with a naturalistic reverence for biological, geological, and cosmic forms.
The visible wood grain, often intentionally left unpainted, becomes a crucial compositional element—an organic presence that anchors each scene.
Cy Gavin, Untitled (March marigolds), 2025. Acrylic and vinyl on wood, 60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm) © Cy Gavin. Photo: Maris Hutchinson. Courtesy Gagosian
From Forests to Nebulas: Painting the Micro and the Macro
The works on view demonstrate Gavin’s fascination with the interconnectedness of life at every scale—from the lifecycle of wild plants to the birth of stars.
In Untitled (Protostar) (2025), the painter takes a cosmic view, envisioning the formation of our sun through the gravitational accretion of nebular matter.
Cy Gavin. Untitled (Maximilian sunflower), 2024. Acrylic and vinyl on canvas, 114 x 55 inches (289.6 x 139.7 cm) © Cy Gavin. Photo: Maris Hutchinson. Courtesy Gagosian
More terrestrial pieces celebrate North American flora and intertidal ecosystems:
Untitled (Maximilian sunflower) (2024), the exhibition’s largest painting, captures the tall heliotropic plant in life-size bloom.
Untitled (Marsh marigolds) (2025), Untitled (Mussels) (2024), and Untitled (Tide pool) (2025) depict vibrant aquatic and coastal lifeforms shaped by moon-driven tides.
Other canvases center on nature’s cycles of decay and regeneration:
In Untitled (Windsnap) (2024), a tree trunk lies broken by the wind.
Untitled (Landslide) (2024) shows shattered boulders resting in a canyon, contrasted by a rising moon.
Untitled (Nurse log) (2024) presents an eastern hemlock emerging from the fallen tree that once sustained it—an ode to forest resilience.
Landscape, Memory, and Constructed Nature
Gavin’s work often evokes the memory of place—a sensory recall of sound, light, and texture.
In Untitled (2025), he paints a pond bathed in summer moonlight, where loosely rendered reeds sway beneath a blue night sky.
In Untitled (Aquarium) (2025), he turns his attention to a man-made environment: the dolphin viewing tank at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland, reflecting on themes of captivity and simulation.
In yet another group of paintings, Gavin examines spiderwebs, using painted negative space to suggest the delicate radial geometry of their construction.
The exhibition runs through August 2, 2025 at Gagosian, 7/F, Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong.
[Cover image Cy Gavin, Untitled (Marsh marigolds), 2025, acrylic and vinyl on wood, 60 × 60 inches (152.4 × 152.4 cm) © Cy Gavin. Photo: Maris Hutchinson]
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